The following modifications coincide with the unit plans, lessons, and project found in "Current Teaching - Lessons and Projects." The modifications described here prove that the creative uses of technology aid in a richer learning experience and a curriculum that is more student centered.Many of the changes to the lessons and projects involve the creation of a class Wiki, which will definitely be integrated into next year's curriculum map.
1. Kate Chopin and Creole Society Scavenger Hunt: (Technology: podcasts and Wikispace)
The original lesson plan included the Internet scavenger hunt, which enabled students to answer questions based upon the two given websites. Even though this lesson enables students to practice sorting through information within a limited amount of information, the students are simply rewriting information from the websites into the handout. My future plans for integrating higher-level thinking skills with technology is for the students to complete their own literary broadcast show using podcasts. I would seperate the students into groups, and each group would be responsible for researching specific aspects of Creole society and Chopin's life. I would provide students with general topics to research (i.e. Creole family life), but I would want them to research specific aspects of such categories that interest them the most. This allows students to research information that they are interested in, which gives them ownership of their own learning. Each group would then create a radio show that creatively documented their research. The podcasts can be easily uploaded onto the class' Wikispace. The other groups would then listen to the information that their peers researched and discuss their findings within the discussion board, which essentially allows them to critically analzye their researched information.
2. The Awakening Unit and Lessons: (Technology: Wikispace and animoto.com)
This extensive unit already includes most technological tools, but another innovative project (extension of the unit) is to have each student create their own female hero based upon the characteristics of the protagonist in Chopin's The Awakening. Students would create a character map of their hero and then integrate their hero into a creative story that also takes into account the literary time period of Realism. The hero should also travel to at least 3 places within the story, which will relate to another aspect of the project. Students would have to be knowledgeable of various aspects of the literary time period in order to integrate such skills within their writing. A model of such writing techniques would also need to be reviewed prior to this assignment. Once the stories and characters are created, the writer would then create a pictoral story of the character's journey throughout the story (this is why the character would have to travel places). This could be created by using animoto.com. Images could be researched on fickr.com and then integrated within the digital slideshow. This further extension of the activity can also help strengthen students' writing skills because if the images seem too disconnected, then the writer may need to look back at the story and revise so that there is a better "flow" between events.
3. Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper Project: (Technology: Better Integration of Research Skills)
This project enables students to create their own newspapers based upon independent research of the late 1800s, which relates to the short story. The overall result of the project would be improved if the students learned more concrete research skills. This would allow students to sift through innaccurate information and provide richer information within their writing. These research skills were highlighted within Coiro's presentation, which is discussed within my written reflection. Along with integrating such skills within multiple lessons prior to this project, I would also require the students to discuss their research process on the class Wiki or document their research within a research map (similar to the activity that we did during the Literacy Institute). Therefore, I would be able to collect more concrete data on their research strengths and/or weaknesses, which would then be further discussed within future lessons.
1. Kate Chopin and Creole Society Scavenger Hunt: (Technology: podcasts and Wikispace)
The original lesson plan included the Internet scavenger hunt, which enabled students to answer questions based upon the two given websites. Even though this lesson enables students to practice sorting through information within a limited amount of information, the students are simply rewriting information from the websites into the handout. My future plans for integrating higher-level thinking skills with technology is for the students to complete their own literary broadcast show using podcasts. I would seperate the students into groups, and each group would be responsible for researching specific aspects of Creole society and Chopin's life. I would provide students with general topics to research (i.e. Creole family life), but I would want them to research specific aspects of such categories that interest them the most. This allows students to research information that they are interested in, which gives them ownership of their own learning. Each group would then create a radio show that creatively documented their research. The podcasts can be easily uploaded onto the class' Wikispace. The other groups would then listen to the information that their peers researched and discuss their findings within the discussion board, which essentially allows them to critically analzye their researched information.
2. The Awakening Unit and Lessons: (Technology: Wikispace and animoto.com)
This extensive unit already includes most technological tools, but another innovative project (extension of the unit) is to have each student create their own female hero based upon the characteristics of the protagonist in Chopin's The Awakening. Students would create a character map of their hero and then integrate their hero into a creative story that also takes into account the literary time period of Realism. The hero should also travel to at least 3 places within the story, which will relate to another aspect of the project. Students would have to be knowledgeable of various aspects of the literary time period in order to integrate such skills within their writing. A model of such writing techniques would also need to be reviewed prior to this assignment. Once the stories and characters are created, the writer would then create a pictoral story of the character's journey throughout the story (this is why the character would have to travel places). This could be created by using animoto.com. Images could be researched on fickr.com and then integrated within the digital slideshow. This further extension of the activity can also help strengthen students' writing skills because if the images seem too disconnected, then the writer may need to look back at the story and revise so that there is a better "flow" between events.
3. Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper Project: (Technology: Better Integration of Research Skills)
This project enables students to create their own newspapers based upon independent research of the late 1800s, which relates to the short story. The overall result of the project would be improved if the students learned more concrete research skills. This would allow students to sift through innaccurate information and provide richer information within their writing. These research skills were highlighted within Coiro's presentation, which is discussed within my written reflection. Along with integrating such skills within multiple lessons prior to this project, I would also require the students to discuss their research process on the class Wiki or document their research within a research map (similar to the activity that we did during the Literacy Institute). Therefore, I would be able to collect more concrete data on their research strengths and/or weaknesses, which would then be further discussed within future lessons.